Author: Anela Dokso

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has, on behalf of the Australian Government, provided $5 million in funding to TransGrid to conduct a detailed feasibility study to develop the proposed Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) in New South Wales (NSW). The $16.2 million study will assess the technical and commercial options for the development of new high voltage transmission lines to enable Australia’s first coordinated REZ and demonstrate a pathway for future REZs across the National Electricity Market. The Central-West Orana REZ will unlock more than 3,000 MW of new electricity generation by the mid-2020s, enough to power around 1.3…

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has conducted an analysis proving that hydrogen has the greatest potential among technologies for seasonal energy storage in the future. Seasonal energy storage can facilitate the deployment of high and ultra-high shares of wind and solar energy sources, according to Omar Guerra, a research engineer at NREL and lead author of a new paper, ‘The value of seasonal energy storage technologies for the integration of wind and solar power.’ Guerra’s co-authors, all from NREL, are Jiazi Zhang, Joshua Eichman, Paul Denholm, Jennifer Kurtz, and Bri-Mathias Hodge. They developed a multi-model approach that considers both the…

 ZeroAvia has conducted the first ever electric-powered flight of a commercial-scale aircraft carried out in the UK. The company completed the first flight of the new version of its powertrain from its  base at Cranfield Airport.​ ZeroAvia is focused on developing a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain. Hydrogen-electric offers the same zero-emission potential of battery-electric, but has a much more promising energy-to-weight ratio, making it viable for commercial operations at a much larger scale and in a shorter time frame, the company explained. ​Beyond HyFlyer, ZeroAvia plans commercially relevant, certified 10-20 seat configurations ready to go within three years, and 50-100…

Smulders has completed the load-out of the first two jackets for Moray East offshore wind farm at its facility in Newcastle upon Tyne. The jackets are going to the port of Nigg, which was chosen as the foundations staging port for the construction of the offshore wind farm. According to Smulders, the installation of the jackets will take place shortly at the project site located 22 km off the Caithness coast. The company will deliver 55 wind turbine jacket foundations for the project from its facility in Newcastle, with the remaining 45 being delivered by Lamprell from its Sharjah and Hamriyah yards…

CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering (CDWE), an offshore wind EPCI contractor, has taken a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the construction of ‘Green Jade’, the first floating DP3 heavy lift and installation vessel to be built in Taiwan. Green Jade will feature a combination of high transport and load capacity, lifting heights and green technology. The new vessel will be built at CSBC in Kaohsiung and is set to be delivered in 2022. CDWE was established at the end of 2018 by CSBC, the largest shipbuilder in Taiwan, and DEME Offshore. Green Jade highlights CDWE’s ambitions to further support development of the offshore wind industry in…

CS Energy has completed a 4.5 MWdc solar project installed with a 3.8 MWh lithium-ion storage solution on a landfill cap site located in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The largest solar plus storage system to be completed to date is part of a partnership between the City of Amesbury and Kearsarge Energy. The project was one of the first solar plus energy storage projects to participate in the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program. “CS Energy has a significant market share in the solar-plus-storage business. We are strategically scaling up our energy storage division and growing our register of successfully completed projects.…

Triton Knoll offshore wind farm’s operations and maintenance base on Grimsby’s Royal Dock has been handed over to Innogy’s Triton Knoll team by the contractor Tolent. Once fully fitted out, the operations and maintenance facility will become the long term regional home for a team of technicians and support staff, responsible for maintaining the offshore wind farm for the next 25 years. Built across almost four acres of quayside, it features an open plan office space, complete with a control room, meeting rooms, canteen and gym, with associated showers and locker rooms, as well as a new warehouse facility that…

Rigmar Group has delivered a two-year contract to carry out inspection and maintenance for the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm. The project, delivered in 2019 and 2020, is the largest inspection and maintenance contract awarded at the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm by Vattenfall, which owns the 11-turbine facility off the coast of the city. Valued at six figures per annum, the project was delivered by teams comprising a total of sixteen Rigmar personnel and included underwater surveys and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) inspections, data processing and chart production, rope access inspection and maintenance. The contract covered the offshore balance of plant…

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has secured a contract for Human-Machine Interface (HMI) engineering services, part of an integrated scope awarded to Wood by Equinor, to support Hywind Tampen floating wind farm to power offshore oil and gas platforms. This project forms part of Equinor’s climate ambitions to reduce the absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its operated offshore fields and onshore plants in Norway by 70% by 2040 and to near zero by 2050. By 2030 this implies annual cuts of more than 5 million tonnes, which constitutes around 10% of the country’s total CO2 emissions. As part of the project, LR…

Risen Energy (Australia) has signed its largest distribution agreement with One Stop Warehouse, Australia’s largest solar distributor. Pursuant to this agreement, One Stop Warehouse will have exclusive rights to sell Risen’s 370W 132-Cell MONO PERC Half Cut Jaegar module to the Australian distribution market, and will subsequently have first rights to sell Risen’s Titan 210mm cell series module for rooftop application. This is an upgrade from last year’s 100MW deal between the two companies and will be valid from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021. Risen Energy (AU), represented by its general manager, Eric Lee and One Stop Warehouse,…